BRIAN LITTLE felt the first half sending off of Eugene Dadi was pivotal in this defeat.

The striker was shown a straight red card after appearing to lash out at Doncaster's John Doolan.

The manager said: "The sending off was the turning point. At this stage of the season discipline is very important and we are not happy about it. We lost a player in a very important game and we were beaten on the back of that.

"With 11 players on the field and having got back to 2-1 I bet we would have had a hell of a chance of winning. If you go down to 10 men in this spell you really do kiss goodbye to winning."

That said, the manager accepted his side had not played well.

"We were second best," he admitted. "We started very poorly. Mentally we were tired after giving away a bad goal late on at Chester-field on Saturday. I can't fault the players for effort. Eugene's sending off knocked us back.

"We had got back to 2-2 at half time, but we knew it would be tough because Doncaster are good at keeping possession. They are a very good footballing side."

Little refused to point the finger of blame at makeshift full back Ian Goodison, despite three of the Doncaster goals originating on Rovers' left flank.

He said: "To pick on the left side is wrong. It is easy to say we missed Gareth Roberts, but when we went down to 10 men the whole team was stretched."

Doncaster manager Dave Penney believed his side's fresher legs were more of a factor than the sending off.

He said: "They played on the Saturday while we played last Thursday so we had a couple of days extra to recover. We looked a little sharper and fitter. That they went down to 10 men helped us even more."